Solitude

This morning I read the well known story of Elijah taking on the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. We all know the story...Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a sacrificial duel. They each sacrifice a bull on an altar, and the God who consumes the sacrifice with fire is the true God. Of course Elijah wins since the LORD is the true God and he defeats the prophets of Baal.

When most of us think of Elijah, we think of that story. But if you go to the beginning of the 17th chapter of 1 Kings where the story begins, you learn something interesting. God first called Elijah to tell Ahab, the King of Israel, that there would not be any rain for 3 years. After passing the message on, Elijah goes and lives in hiding way out in the middle of nowhere. He's there by himself for months! What does he do? No Internet, no people, no movies, no books, no Bible...he's there by himself with nothing to do. He doesn't even have to go find food. God has the ravens do that for him.

It's hard for me to imagine spending months in the wilderness like that...absolutely nothing to do but talk to God and think. I mean, I like my solitude, but that's a whole different level! No human interaction for months? I wonder how many of us could do that? Elijah probably thought he was going to be there for 3 YEARS! As it turned out, the brook he was drinking out of dried up, so God moved him into a city to live with a widow. Perhaps God saw something in Elijah that showed he needed to have human interaction.

What strikes me is that while we often think of Elijah as this amazingly powerful prophet, he spent most of his time in what appears to be relative inactivity...and much of it in solitude.

Henri Nouwen writes in The Way of the Heart that there are three keys to strengthening our spiritual life. They are solitude, silence, and prayer. No doubt Elijah practiced all of them...extensively. Perhaps that was why he was chosen by God to offer the sacrifice that was consumed by heavenly fire.

Something to think about...